SOS Business Appreciation Dinner

May 2nd we held a business appreciation dinner for businesses in Josephine County. 22 business owners signed our guest book and we had approximately 48 guests. The focus of the dinner was to bring the business owners current on the projects we are working on and what those projects can mean to the safety of our community if they are implemented. We had guest speakers as well as a showing of the MAT-C video and one video in a series that is simply titled “The Cost.” The videos had a profound affect on several of the business owners that attended. We had 5 businesses request to be sponsors and 4 request to donate to our efforts.

We would like to thank our guest speakers:

Jay Meredith

Archie Lidey

Cliff Thomason

Dr. Steven Rotter

David Smith

Scott Draper

Key Note Speaker Dr. Matt Johnston

We would also like to say a special Thank You to Jacki Halcomb, Ruth Wall and Jody Nigh for all their hard work in coordinating this event and also to the staff at Grants Pass Golf Club. The food and service was wonderful. If you are looking to hold an event we would highly recommend this venue!

SOS Sponsor ReportJacki Halcomb

We are sponsoring a Business “Thank YOU!” Dinner at the Grants Pass Golf Course on May 2, 2015 from 7PM-9PM

Our Key Note Speaker shall be Dr. Matt Johnston of Johnston Dental and we will have other guest speakers

If you are a business or know of a business and would like to attend, please call Jody Nighe ASAP at (541) 472-8337 ASAP! OR e-mail Jacki @ jaklar@msn.com for more information

If you have any questions or if you would like to get involved in being a part of uniting businesses and promoting commerce in Josephine County, please call or email Jacki @ jaklar@msn.com or 541-218-1427

SOS VIDEOS

Reporter David Smith and Kerin Sharma

As you know, we recently hired a cinematographer (Kerin Sharma) and a writer (David Smith) and paired them together to assist us in creating IMPACT videos. Our Mission for a Citizen-Voiced plan for a secure, stable, and sustainable Josephine County can be better understood and achieved when we assess the facts and impact a diminished Criminal Justice System has on our life in Josephine County. These 30-90 second videos will begin to be revealed the beginning of May. Stay TUNED!

GRACE ROOTS Pathways to Wellness

Nancy Yonally/Marilane Jorgenson/Dr. Felica Cohen

Dr. Steven Rotter Medical Director

Grace Roots is approaching the time to submit their own non-profit status documents

April 7, 2015 NOTES:

“JoCo Public Safety/Criminal Justice budget status starting in July of 2015…We are still in crisis”

Cherryl Walker guided us through the complexities of county subsidies.

In summary:

US House approved a 2 year extension of Secure Rural Schools Funds at 95% of what Josephine County received in 2013. This SRS is an amendment to the Medicare Bill.

2013 =$4,858,134 X 95% = $4,615,228 for 2015. We still don’t know if this amount will be subject to 7.3% sequestration.

$4,615,228 X 95% = $4,384,466 for 2016.

The Senate has not approved this, but likely will by Friday April 17, 2015 as the current Medicare law expires that week.

Josephine County received $2,174,441 in February that went into the General Fund, for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) actual shared timber receipts. The SRS legislation requires this BLM amount be subtracted from the SRA payment to be sent to the counties. Therefore, Josephine County will actually receive appx. $2,440,787 when SRS money is distributed.

Josephine County has also received U. S. Forest Service Receipts in February 2015 in the amount of $69,067, after sequestration. This money is required to be split 25%/75% between County Schools and Public Works. None of it is available to the General Fund. Last year this amount was $1.4 million.

PILT, Payment In Lieu of Taxes, that goes into the General Fund but has historically been used for Public Safety, is expected to be nearly $700,000 for 2015. It is not yet received and the date is uncertain at this time. In 2014 the County received a little more than $500,000.

SOS Editorial – therefore, JoCo will have in total slightly less than the current year’s already unacceptable dollars by which to operating its law enforcement and public safety programs. We are still in crisis, even with this extension of lower amounts of federal funds.

SOS shall be sponsoring a Business “Thank YOU!” Dinner at the Grants Pass Golf Course on May 2, 2015—Please e-mail Jacki @ jaklar@msn.com to invite a business you want to come to this event! We will require an rsvp

LUNCH MOB! We were thinking about designating a business a week to mob for lunch… What say YOU?

If you have any questions or if you would like to get involved in being a part of this committee, please feel free to call or email Jacki @ jaklar@msn.com or 541-218-1427